>> the president signed it into law. >> he didn't like that legislation. he thought it was unconstitutional. we'll have a lot more on this coming up. that's it for me. our coverage continues with erin burnett outfront. next, breaking news. house republicans vote to release a highly controversial and partisan memo charging fbi conduct at the highest level. part of an effort to discredit robert mueller's russia probe. the clock is ticking on the president. will he release the memo to the public. the deputy director of the fbi gone. a stunning and sudden move after months of attack by the president. is there more no andrew mccabe's sudden departure?

let gee let's go out front. house republicans voting to release that controversial classified memo to the public. it's a highly partisan document alleging the highest levels of the fbi misused the fisa program when it comes to the trump campaign. it came from the former mi6 agent. they used it as a basis to get a warrant from a fisa judge. that advisor is carter page. democrats say the memo really and deeply misrepresents the intelligence that it's based on cha highly classified which we're not going to be able to see. we're only to getting to sew the republican interpretation of what they want to cherry pick out of the that evidence.

this is part of an effort to discredit the russia investigation and robert muell r mueller's probe. >> the president of the united states will not put his own interest over his personal interest. it's sad day when that's true of our own committee because today this committee voted to put the president's personal interest, perhaps their own political interest above the national interests. in denying themselves even the abilities to hear from the department and the fbi. that is, i think, a deeply regrettable state of affairs. it does show how, in my view, when you have a deeply flawed person in the oval office that flaw can infect the whole of government and today tragically it affected our committee. >> schiff wrote a memo this was

their view of how to interpret the highly classified source data. it's a counter to the republican memo and schiff called to release that memo. they're only going to put out their partisan view and not the other side. a top white house aide said this is going to be a yes. the president believes the memo should be released. if he does that, it will draw the battle lines between the white house and the justice department. keep in mind that the assistant attorney general, a trump nominee fired off a letter to nunes. this is the letter. he says the justice department was aware of any wrong doing and he added, this is the operative

line, we believe it would be reckless for the committee to disclose information publicly without giving the department, that's the justice department shs and the fbi the opportunity to review the memorandum. you understand the damage it could have on national security. we have learned that president trump, when he was traveling on air force one to davos when he saw this memo was furious about the charge of recklessness. when it comes to releasing the classified information that this is based on, republicans have serious qualms. i asked trey gowdy who has read

the memo and the highly class y classified information and i asked him about the danger of releasing it publicly. >> let's be clear about this. the memo was derived from information that the department gave us. it's not like there's new information. everything in the memo they already have. what they don't know specifically is what are their complaints. i'm fine to share them with them but you can't say a memo is reckless if you haven't read it. >> they're not allowing them to read it. they're not allowing them to review it. they're not letting them read it. obviously that's pretty circular logic. gowdy doesn't think the public should see the information this is based on. the justice department doesn't know what's spin or take on all that information, that real source data the republicans took. democratic new york congressman told me the memo is this. a list of republican talking points designed to discredit the fbi and the russia

investigation. >> it's a political document designed for one purpose and that is to discredit, disable the fbi and the justice department and any -- it's part of a long term campaign by the republicans, by the administration and some republicans in congress to disable, discredit and any agency that is involved in the investigation of the president. >> all of this today coming as the deputy director suddenly stepped down. he was gone by noon today. trump has attacked him for months railing about his involvement in the clinton e-mail and his wife's run as a democrat for statewide office in virginia. mccabe is a registered republican. we're learning mu ining much mo what may have forced him out. we'll have a lot more on that.

we want to begin right now. this press conference by congressman schiff was a crucial moment. you're taking an investigation that's of immense national security and it's now been completely turned into a war between democrats and republicans on house int intelligence committee. >> reporter: it's been going this way for some time. the culmination of weeks and months of fighting between democrats and republicans over the direction of the russia investigation and a real sign that the russia insgraigs could be winding down. in this closed door meeting we're told there's been a number of motions that were put forward by democrats that were blocked along party lines aftera adam schiff said they briefed the full house about the memo before agreeing to its public releasing. schiff said that was denied. he said they denied public

release of the democratic memo that provides an alternative view of exactly what this classified intelligence says. the committee is still trying to figure out the way forward. mike conaway said the reason they did not allow the democratic memo to be released is they are following the same procedure as the nunes memo. they will get a chance to review the schiff memo and decide later about the public release. the one thing they did agree on is the chief strategist expected to come back to the house intelligence committee wednesday after bannon did not answer a

range of questions earlier this month when asked about any matters a of the campaign season but after that really breaking down along party lines. both are warning about the other's actions and democrats contending it's a dangerous action and reckless and could be a cause, concern for national security and republicans pushing back tonight. >> thank you very much. >> you were there with congressman schiff during that press conference. what happened inside that meeting today. >> we reached a new low. we crossed a line that cannot be taken back. we political sized the law enforcement institutions that keep us safe and the release of

classified information. this is terrible precedent going forward. >> are you going to release your memo any way? the doj and fbi asked to release any befo -- review before release. >> we're going to release ours too. the federal bureau of investigation and department of justice. we had a motion to subject both of the memos to that review process. the majority turned it down. we'll do that under any circumstance. we think that's the appropriate thing to do. >> when do you think that will happen? the president has five days to make his formal decision which the white house has indicated it be be an easy yes. we'll see.

how soon? >> to be determined. i strongly suspect the president will not take his entire five days because he will want to feed the beast of this propaganda machine. i think this speaks a complete misunderstanding of the administration of what this process is about especially with respect to director mueller's investigation. this is about protecting america against russian interference. the prosecutors and the judges aren't going to care about this pr battle that the administration is waging. >> i want to ask you about a point that congressman gowdy made to me. it's originally came from the fbi. he made the point, i know if you

just heard him but he told me this memo was derived and distilled from information that the department gave us. they are saying they have the information it's based on. why do they need to review it? the implication is unless they want to do damage control because they did something wrong with the warrant they had to obtain information on carter page? could he be right? >> the alternative point of view is they already have all this information then what would be the harm in having them review it? that's traditional, long standing tradition. let's be very clear about this. there are actually only two people on the intelligence economy that have read the more -- the deeper, the underlying classified intelligence. for the members of the committee to make this public is a little bit like writing a book review without having read the book. >> i'm saying that's trey gowdy who did see. he's one of the two.

>> he knows better in is part of the game. since it's likely to never be released then they can't be proven on the basis of that information to be wrong in all of their distortions. many of their distortions are just that. >> is your investigation over at this point? >> not at all. >> how can it not be when you're saying you crossed a new low, a line you can't go back on. you're going to work with the republicans on your committee to do a real investigation. >> there's some elements that need to be brought forward, that's what can we do to protect ourselves against interference in the future.

i hope we'll be able to do that. this is a new low. we have crossed the line and it's sad day for america. >> if there was something wrong or inappropriate, whatever word it may end up being with the warrant used to obtain surveillance on carter page. does that put it into question. >> i don't believe there was anything wrong to begin with based on what i know. never having read that underlying document. we have been exposed to plenty of others. trust me, the republican memo is a memorandum of propaganda. nothing more. >> i appreciate your time.

thank you, sir. >> you're welcome. next, breaking news. trump now has a very big decision. is he going to go ahead and do what the white house has been saying he will do. release the memo or not? more breaking news. we have new details coming in about what may have forced that surprise resignation today. mccabe out today by lunch. the white house says president trump had nothing to do with the sudden departure. the problem is this president left a highly public record of trying to do just that. friends, colleagues, gathered here are the world's finest insurance experts.

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the republicans on the house intelligence committee have voted yes. they will release a secret memo alleging fbi overreach on a former trump campaign staffer. president trump has five days to review the memo and decide whether it should be released or not. the white house has indicated they want it out there. this comes as the committee is also opening formal investigations against the doj and fbi. all of this on party lines. it should be a grave disappointment for everyone that was hoping for a bipartisan

investigation. the memo is now being sent to the president now. it's out and in route. >> reporter: indeed. it is being sent over here to the white house or it may already be here. we are told when the president was flying to washington to davos and back he was angry at his own justice department for saying it would be the wrong thing to do to release this memo here. there is going to be a full five-day review here of this

memo. this will not be a fully explored likely until wednesday. again this is entirely up to the president. what he would like to do. one other point here, the director of the fbi and the deputy attorney general were here at the white house earlier today having a meeting with white house chief of staff john kelly. we do not know what they talked about it. >> thank you very much. former advisor to the president. this is a pretty stunning moment that we are here and the

president sounding like he will play this to full television impact. he doesn't want to release it before the state of the union. the senate did a report about the use of enhanced interrogation techniques. the senate controlled by democra democrats voted to release the report and it took two years for it to be declassified and came out with lots of black spots that are redactions. will there be little black spots with things that refer to evidence that's from a fisa court that's very high level classification. >> which raises a huge question here. if what we're talking about is

the surveillance of carter page that was obtained through a fisa warrant. say that evidence was the dossier but any of that information one would presume would be on a redaction list. they don't want that redacted. >> i think we're seeing breakdown of democracy. we've never had a situation in which the congress has moved into a criminal investigation and turned it into a political circus. that's what's going on here. there's no credibility to this memo unless there's an answering memo released at the same time. how are we supposed the take republican talking point and not see the democrat talking points.

when mix -- nixon was under investigation he offered to special counsel, i'll give you summaries of what's in the tape. that will be good enough. the special counsel said absolutely not. we're not running this investigation. >> he points out that devon has nod seen the classified information that underpins his own memo. >> his staff wrote it then. this is the absurdity of what we're talking about. >> one of the big differences between the watergate era and now is there isn't a bipartisan senate investigation of the problem, of the crime. in '73, the public got to watch

a real senate investigation and got to make up its own mind about abuse of power, about dirty tricks that the nixon a administration conducted. congress is doing the opposite. it's trying to create noise and cloud the issue and make it hard for people to actually get at the underlying problem which is possible collusion or money laundering. >> to your point, a memo is out there. with the man who signed it, maybe a staff reviewed it. the man who signed it hasn't seen the information it was based on. he's putting his whole credibility on that. even though he never saw it. he doesn't know if he himself -- i find that shocking. i don't know anyone who should be comfortable doing such a thing. not allowing the democrats to put out there.

i'm sure equally as partisan, view of things. the you're going to see someone say things are pink or black, you should get someone to see things are white. >> unless and until that happens, the memo deserves no credibility. >> it's going to have credibility when it's released to a certain part of the population. it's going to go see i told you so or verify everything they think. >> it's prejudging everything rather than allowing a thorough investigation to concludes under mueller. >> the test is whether it affects mueller's investigation. the only way it could is if it emboldens republicans to shut the investigation down. >> if there's an issue with how the fisa warrant has obtained, forget who is at fault. if there was a lot of information obtained from that surveillance warrant and it's bad and leads you to collusion,

what do you do then in. >> i don't know. in a court of law if the police screw up the investigation the material they gathered is not allowed into evidence. we don't know what came out of it. >> if they mess up the fisa on carter page, we deserve to know that. that ought to be out there in the public record and have chance to do this. i cannot tell you how important it was during the nixon period that the republicans played a responsible role. they saw their duty to the country. howard baker and others performed admiralablely. why has the republican party wandered from that standard? >> that's a crucial question. we're learning more by the moment as fbi director andrew mccabe sudden departure. why? the ball is now if the president's court. what is he going to do with the memo? the spokesman is out front. [phone ringing]

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the deputy fbi director andrew mccabe gone.

a very sudden departure today. he was supposed to retire in march and under intense pressure for the president. he was out of fbi headquarters by lunch. pamela brown is outfront. >> reporter: the abrupt departure of andrew mccabe, the deputy director of the fbi comes at his boss hints at a memo to his staff that a soon to be inspector general investigation about the 2016 handling of the hillary clinton e-mail and russia probes was a factor according to people who have seen the memo. the new york times reported monday that after ray talked to mccabe about the report and suggested he move to another job, he decided to step down rather than take what would have been a demotion. he said he was bringing in his own team and that mccabe was not going to be on it. the white house denies that president trump, who has spent months trying to undermine mccabedeparture.

>> nonof this was made by the white house. >> reporter: president trump blasted mccabe because his wife jill ran as a democratic in a senate race in 2015. >> mccabe got more than $500,000 from essentially hillary clinton and is he investigating hillary clinton. the man who was more or less in charge of her, the wife got $500,000 from terry. terry is hillary. >> reporter: jill mccabe lost three months before her husband was given the number two job at the fbi. andrew mccabe told senior executives about him leaving saying it was his choice. sources have previously told cnn that the attorney general pressured fbi drirector to chane

his top leadership and at that time ray threatened to resign. it appears the upcoming inspector general report played a role in what played out today. erin. >> thank you very much. thanks very much to both of you. let me just get to what adam schiff said. he was asked if the inspector general momentum wouemo would s mccabe did shotgomething wrong. >> i think he's been deeply and unfairly maligned. i think this econocommittee and others have done a tremendous disservice to mr. mccabe. >> what is in this inspector general memo about mccabe or is congressman schiff right? >> the inspector general has been looking into the events of

2016 and how the fbi handled the hillary clinton investigation. they are looking at andy mccabe's and his wife election and whether he should have recused himself at certain points. what the i.g. will find and many people have said is they're going to be critical of the bureau's decisions to hold that news conference where comey criticized hillary clinton and potentially critical of sending that letter just days before the election. >> obviously, that's all going to be important. i always feel it's important to mention. obviously, mccabe's wife was getting that money from democratic donors and running as a democrat. he voted in the republican primary in virginia.

that's just something important to note. republicans are going to try to use that to call the entire russia investigation into question. is that fair? >> that would be a stretch. it goes through a very lengthy vetting process. it's approved by a federal judge. an independent judge who has no skin in the game and really looking at whether the executive branch has shown enough probable cause to obtain a warrant. having said that it gives fuel to the fire. one thing i'll note, erin, is that what this shows is that the office of the inspector general

is an independent entity that is there to investigate misconduct within the department of justice. to the extent that the oig is finding evidence of any kind of behavior that doesn't meet its standards, people are taking action whether it's the fbi director or mueller who took peter struck off the investigation that shows the fbi, the mueller investigation is acting independently. if we're trusting the oig to do this investigation, to go back into this memo, why hasn't that been given to the oig. >> the white house is saying president trump wasn't involved in mccabe's departure. trump has publicly impugned mccabe. he's racing the clock to retire

with full benefits. 90 days to go. question mark, exclamation point. inspector general is obviously important here but was this trump's doing at all, do you think? >> i think trump's pressure certainly sped up the time line. ray got to the fbi. he wanted to get the lay of the land. he wanted to figure out the building. it's normal for fbi directors to put their own staff in place. whether it's a general counsel, a chief of staff. ray wanted to do it according to his timeline. if he did i according to sessions or trump's time line that would make hit overtly political. that's what ray was trying to avoid. what happened today was ray

found something in the ig report that concerned him. just like ray found something that was concerning involving lisa page. what he did is sidelined them. that's effectively what he was going to do to mccabe until the clock ran out on march 18th. my reporting doesn't tell me that trump's finger prints are on this per se. you can make the argument we've reached the same conclusion that trump wanted. >> trump wanted it. the president will be able to say well maybe i was right. this ig report is showing something. i was sensing and feeling that it wascoming ages coming. >> possibly. can i make a comment about the fisa? >> yes. >> they went out the rome and interviewed chris steel. he wasn't working for the fbi and chris steel provided them

information that fbi didn't pay for. he had been a proven confidential informant that worked with them. they took some of that information and used it in the fisa application. what the republicans are quibbling about is that they tell that steele didn't tell the fbi that he was working for the democrats. what steele did tell the fbi is he was working for anti-trump forces. it's a distinction without a difference. the republicans are trying to blow up the whole application based on this one threat. what's a little disingenious is we have not seen the whole entire fisa application. these things are lengthy. there could be 30, 45 pages. this stuff about steel could be immaterial. >> we're not going to know it because we're only going to see their summary.

they paid for it. it leaves out. the pages of information. that would make the gop memo. >> there's no way the fisa warrant was based on the dossier. this is really a short lived victo victory. then extended the fisa because it was obtaining information.

this means there was a there there. it's really what they want to move. they are trying to prove the opposite. they are putting focus that will end up the exact effect. >> thank you both very much. a lot of nfginformation there. when will we see the nunes memo? the white house spokesman. taken to extreme. do republicans still have credibility on the russian investigation. >> it's not references who created the theory of a secret society. >> secret society. >> what secret society are you talking about? yes or no? do you want the same tools and seamless experience across web and tablet? do you want $4.95 commissions for stocks, $0.50 options contracts? $1.50 futures contracts? what about a dedicated service team of trading specialists? did you say yes? good, then it's time for power e*trade. the platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need.

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it's joined by the fbi and justice department during the 2016 presidential election. keep in mind chairman nunes did not read the underlying classified information that sensibly his staff must have seen before he put his own name on this memo. an administration official said the memo is being couriered over to the white house. hogan welcome back. we reported it was being cu courierd over? >> it's here. i know there's a five-day process that the president will adhere to and the president is going to meet with his national security team. also with white house official. >> the president believes in

transparency and believes the memo should be put out. >> reporter: the president will ultimately be the one to make that call. he wants transparency. he wants the people to see just what they are dealing with with their government but at the same time the president would never risk putting american lives at risk over a document. when he seeks counsel from his team, he'll make that decision. >> he's extremely frustrated because the demonstrates, he's seen the underlying classified material. his staff wrote the memo and

nunes put his name on it. congressman schiff with some strong words for the president tonight about really saying the opposite of what you just said. i want to play congressman schiff for you. >> sadly we can fully expect that the president of the united states will not put the national interest over his own personal interest. this committee voted to put the president's personal interest, perhaps their own political interest above. in denying themselves the ability to hear from the department and the fbi. >> your response. >> i'm shocked that congressman schiff has bad things to say about the president. this is a congressional matter. this has nothing to do with the executive branch other than the fact the president can stop the release. after five days the president doesn't have to take action at all. it becomes declassified. this is over at congress. this is their issue and we'll act accordingly. >> what you're saying is after five days they can just release it any way and he can say he

didn't tell them to do it? >> it's my understanding that the president because of the vote in the committee and the house, the president does not have to do anything to it. he can stop it between now and five days but it's my understanding it becomes public, regardless. >> obviously you know the memo from the assistant attorney general, the president's nominee for that position. they say it would be extraordinarily reckless for the committee to release the memo without giving chance to review the memo. now, would the president allow the department of justice and the fbi to review the memo in the next five days before he makes a decision? >> again, i haven't spoken with him about that. it's my understanding it doesn't have anything to do with the doj and the president makes the ultimate decision to stop the memo but that's after a consultation with his national security team and white house counsel. that has nothing to do with doj. >> obviously, the allegations in the memo are of some sort of

mistake, wrong doing, who knows what it might be because i haven't seen it. i presume you haven't seen it unless you just saw it. the doj a and the fbi those things happen. they are saying they deserve the right to review it. >> that's for them to work out. this president has been focussed all weekend, as you have reported on the first day of the union he's about to give. we're not foing going to let the us off message. we're focussed on providing a speech to the people tomorrow night and talk about what the president has been able to accomplish in his first year in office. that's where we want to two with this. the president will take the necessary steps and review with his team but i have no announcement on that. >> so trey gowdy who is the republican who reviewed the memo when i interviewed him, he was for the memo being released but not for the actual information underlying it for being released

and here is whow he put it. >> my counsel to him was do nothing to jeopardize the men and women in the intelligence community. >> how can anybody -- it is partisan. but how can you allow the release of a memo of such importance base on classified information if you cannot allow people to see what is based on themselves. >> first of all, i want to commend you on having two south carolians on the show tonight. this comes down to the folks who voted for the release. and this comes to the president. he can stop it. if he doesn't do anything -- >> if he does nothing, he is

allowing it to be released there is no other way to put it. >> that's the way it works. that is the law. he doesn't have to do that. this is separation of powers. i can't do anything about that. >> hogan, thank you for your time. next, what started as the investigation of russia and the election has turned into something deferent entirely. how does towing the party line eclipse everything? alka seltzer plus maximum strength liquid gels. coaching means making tough choices. jim! you're in! but when you have high blood pressure and need cold medicine that works fast, the choice is simple. coricidin hbp is the #1 brand that gives powerful cold symptom relief without raising your blood pressure. coricidin hbp. mvo: it's not necessarily about eating together, but it's about building relationships with one another. because that will manifest change.

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has arrived and the memo is now at the white house. the press has a decision in the next five days. he can say yes, release it publicly or block it. up now joan walsh and steve cortes. russia russians interfering in our election is a serious thing. >> i think this is dangerous. this is the most dangerous day for our democracy since trump fired jim comey in may. we saw the departure of fbi mcca mccabe under pressure. you have him saying we are not going to release the democratic

rejoinder, the memo. not going to extend the russian sanctions because they are working well enough. so you have to put this together. >> i don't know why i have a problem, deven nunes did sign this memo. >> if he trusts his deputy to do that job, it is reasonable. as you stipulated, the russians meddled in our election among many nations. >> when you say that, it is like you are minimizing it. >> i am not minimizing it. many nations, the ukraine for certain in collusion with the democratic party. >> what is that? >> what is of far greater

concern, some of the highest levels of our own national security apparatus may have been interfering in our elections. james comey determining months before the investigation is over and writing and peter strzok allowing him to edit that memo. that is corruption -- >> let's say for a second, jim comey blew it on that. hypothetical. and right before the election he opens the investigation into hillary clinton. so if comey blew it, he blew it on both sides. >> he was incompetent -- >> my my point is, that he was incompetent on both sides. >> this mueller investigation

was poison from the very beginning. how did it start? and we don't have to guess about it. it started because he leaked to a law professor to tell the press -- >> there was already investigations that president tried to shut down firing mueller. >> what does that have to do with bob mueller. >> assembled a team -- >> put peter strzok on the team. a guy predisposed to think everything about the campaign is -- >> peter strzok who also talked about -- >> but he removed him. he and his para mar were talking about an insurance policy. >> you have him in a text saying

there is no there there. i don't think there is anything there on russian. >> look, at the end of the day -- >> wouldn't you want the guy on a russian investigation. >> supposed to be biased against hillary. >> the american people elected him, middle class workers. and this is the last gasp of the swamp. we have so much momentum particularly in the economy. >> your president -- >> they need to find some way a hail mary pass. >> thanks obama. and your president would do well to get out of the way of his own administration's messaging on that. >> obama didn't cut taxes and get millions of bonuses. >> we don't have evidence that there are millions of workers. >> we certainly do. i can do give you the count. >> not millions.

and no idea. >> wage increases would be more important. >> one time bonuses -- >> also wage increases. >> thank you both very much. and thank you both for joining us. ac 360 with anderson cooper beginning right now. good evening from washington. extraordinarily reckless. a memo. well, just a short time ago, republicans on the house intelligence committee ignored that warning and ignored the request. they ignored that as well. and voted along party lines to release the memo. they voted not to release a memo released by democrats pointing out the false ho